Update

Coated Fabric Products

Coated fabric products used for oil spill response procedures can deteriorate when stored for long periods of time. A proposed new ASTM standard will provide a nondestructive test for stored equipment to be evaluated for continued suitability over time.

WK37298, Test Method for Determining Storage Life of Coated Fabric Products, is being developed by Subcommittee F20.11 on Control, part of ASTM International Committee F20 on Hazardous Substances and Oil Spill Response.

“When equipment has deteriorated physically but does not show outward signs of this, it can be put into service, but will ultimately fail when the physical deterioration becomes evident under load,” says Peter Lane, president, Applied Fabric Technologies Inc., Morris Skimmers International LLC, and chairman of F20. “It is not different from ozone aging of rubber tires, PVC garden hose or plastics left in the sun. It might look good from the outward appearance, but when stressed it can fail prematurely.”

Lane says that F20.11 welcomes producers of coated fabric products to join in the ongoing development of WK37298, because the proposed standard could have a significant impact on the expected useful lifetime of such products.

Lane says the subcommittee would like to receive comments from producers on the concept of nondestructive testing of coated fabric products for oil spill response and input on what tests to conduct on samples, what would be an appropriate sample and where in the storage container the sample should be stored.